The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

Last 5 news

Monday, April 13, 2015

Vatican City, 13 April 2015 (VIS) –
This morning the ninth meeting of the Council of Cardinals, to be
attended by the Holy Father, began in the Vatican. The Council will
continue its work until Wednesday, 15 April.

Vatican City, 12 April 2015 (VIS) –
On the second Sunday of Easter, or Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis
celebrated Holy Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to commemorate the
centenary of the “martyrdom” (Metz Yeghern, or Great Evil) of the
Armenian People, and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church St. Gregory of
Narek (c. 951 – c. 1003), Armenian monk, theologian, poet and
philosopher, whose feast day is celebrated on 27 February.

His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX
Tarmouni, Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics
concelebrated with the Holy Father, in the presence of His Holiness
Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians and His
Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia. The
president of the Republic of Armenia, Serz Sargsyan, also attended
the Mass.

In his homily, the Pope commented on
the Gospel of St. John, who was in the Upper Room with the other
disciples on the evening of the first day after the Sabbath, and who
tells us that “Jesus came and stood among them, and said, 'Peace be
with you!' and He showed them His hands and His side; He showed them
His wounds. And in this way they realised that it was not an
apparition: it was truly Him, the Lord, and they were filled with
joy. On the eighth day Jesus came once again into the Upper Room and
showed His wounds to Thomas, so that he could touch them as he had
wished to, in order to believe and thus become himself a witness to
the Resurrection”.

To us also, on this Sunday which Saint
John Paul II wished to dedicate to Divine Mercy, “the Lord shows
us, through the Gospel, his wounds. They are wounds of mercy. It is
true: the wounds of Jesus are wounds of mercy. 'With His stripes we
are healed'. Jesus invites us to behold these wounds, to touch them
as Thomas did, to heal our lack of belief. Above all, He invites us
to enter into the mystery of these wounds, which is the mystery of
His merciful love”.

“Through these wounds, as in a
light-filled opening, we can see the entire mystery of Christ and of
God”, said Pope Francis: “His Passion, His earthly life –
filled with compassion for the weak and the sick – His incarnation
in the womb of Mary. And we can retrace the whole history of
salvation: the prophecies – especially about the Servant of the
Lord, the Psalms, the Law and the Covenant; to the liberation from
Egypt, to the first Passover and to the blood of the slaughtered
lambs; and again from the Patriarchs to Abraham, and then all the way
back to Abel, whose blood cried out from the earth. All of this we
can see in the wounds of Jesus, crucified and risen; with Mary, in
her Magnificat, we can perceive that, 'His mercy extends from
generation to generation'”.

He continued, “Faced with the tragic
events of human history we can feel crushed at times, asking
ourselves, 'Why?'. Humanity’s evil can appear in the world like an
abyss, a great void: empty of love, empty of goodness, empty of life.
And so we ask: how can we fill this abyss? For us it is impossible;
only God can fill this emptiness that evil brings to our hearts and
to human history. It is Jesus, God made man, Who died on the Cross
and Who fills the abyss of sin with the depth of His mercy”.

The saints teach us that “the world
is changed beginning with the conversion of one’s own heart, and
that this happens through the mercy of God. And so, whether faced
with my own sins or the great tragedies of the world, 'my conscience
would be distressed, but it would not be in turmoil, for I would
recall the wounds of the Lord: “He was wounded for our iniquities”.
What sin is there so deadly that it cannot be pardoned by the death
of Christ?'”.

“Keeping our gaze on the wounds of
the Risen Jesus, we can sing with the Church: 'His love endures
forever'; eternal is his mercy. And with these words impressed on our
hearts, let us go forth along the paths of history, led by the hand
of our Lord and Saviour, our life and our hope”, concluded the
Pontiff.

Vatican City, 12 April 2015 (VIS) –
At the end of the Holy Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica to
commemorate the centenary of the Armenian “martyrdom” (Metz
Yeghern) and the proclamation of St. Gregory of Narek as Doctor of
the Church, the Pope met with His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme
Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Aram I,
Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, His Beatitude Nerses Bedros
XIX Tarmouni, Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholic Church,
and the president of the Republic of Armenia, Serz Sargsyan. He
handed to each of them a signed copy in Italian of his message he
read at the beginning of the celebration, with a translation in
Armenian. The following is the full text of his message.

“On a number of occasions I have
spoken of our time as a time of war, a third world war which is being
fought piecemeal, one in which we daily witness savage crimes, brutal
massacres and senseless destruction. Sadly, today too we hear the
muffled and forgotten cry of so many of our defenceless brothers and
sisters who, on account of their faith in Christ or their ethnic
origin, are publicly and ruthlessly put to death – decapitated,
crucified, burned alive – or forced to leave their homeland.

Today too we are experiencing a sort of
genocide created by general and collective indifference, by the
complicit silence of Cain, who cries out: 'What does it matter to me?
Am I my brother’s keeper?'.

In the past century our human family
has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The
first, which is widely considered 'the first genocide of the
twentieth century' (John Paul II and Karekin II, Common Declaration,
Etchmiadzin, 27 September 2001), struck your own Armenian people, the
first Christian nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians,
Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks. Bishops and priests, religious,
women and men, the elderly and even defenceless children and the
infirm were murdered. The remaining two were perpetrated by Nazism
and Stalinism. And more recently there have been other mass killings,
like those in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia. It seems that
humanity is incapable of putting a halt to the shedding of innocent
blood. It seems that the enthusiasm generated at the end of the
Second World War has dissipated and is now disappearing. It seems
that the human family has refused to learn from its mistakes caused
by the law of terror, so that today too there are those who attempt
to eliminate others with the help of a few and with the complicit
silence of others who simply stand by. We have not yet learned that
'war is madness', 'senseless slaughter'.

Dear Armenian Christians, today, with
hearts filled with pain but at the same time with great hope in the
risen Lord, we recall the centenary of that tragic event, that
immense and senseless slaughter whose cruelty your forebears had to
endure. It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honour their memory,
for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to
fester. Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep
bleeding without bandaging it!

I greet you with affection and I thank
you for your witness. With gratitude for his presence, I greet Mr
Serz Sargsyan, the President of the Republic of Armenia. My cordial
greeting goes also to my brother Patriarchs and Bishops: His Holiness
Kerekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; His
Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, His
Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX, Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian
Catholics; and Catholicosates of the Armenian Apostolic Church and
the Patriarchate of the Armenian Catholic Church.

In the certainty that evil never comes
from God, Who is infinitely good, and standing firm in faith, let us
profess that cruelty may never be considered God’s work and, what
is more, can find absolutely no justification in his Holy Name. Let
us continue this celebration by fixing our gaze on Jesus Christ,
risen from the dead, victor over death and evil”.

Vatican City, 13 April 2015 (VIS) –
At midday on Divine Mercy Sunday, following the celebration of Holy
Mass in the Vatican Basilica for the faithful of Armenian Rite, Pope
Francis appeared at the window of his study to pray the Regina Coeli
with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square. Before
the Marian prayer, the Pontiff addressed those present.

“Today is the eighth day after
Easter, and the Gospel of St. John tells of the two appearances of
the Resurrected Jesus to the apostles gathered in the Upper Room. …
The first time, the Lord shows the disciples the wounds on His body.
… But Thomas was not present that evening, and he did not believe
the account given by the others. … Eight days after – precisely
like today – Jesus returned among them and turned immediately to
Thomas, inviting him to touch the wounds on His hands and on His
side. He reaches out to his incredulity so that, through the signs of
the Passion, he is able to reach the fullness of Paschal faith: faith
in the resurrection of Jesus”.

“Thomas is a person who is not easily
satisfied, a seeker who wishes to check in person, to attain his own
personal experience. After his initial resistance and uneasiness, he
too finally reaches the point of believing. ... Jesus awaits him
patiently and is attentive to the difficulties and insecurities of
the last man to arrive. … [Thomas] was able to 'touch' the paschal
Mystery that fully demonstrates God's salvific love, rich in mercy.
And like Thomas, we too, on this second Sunday of Easter, are invited
to contemplate, in the wounds of the Risen Christ, the Divine Mercy
that overcomes every human limit and shines through the darkness of
evil and sin”.

Francis explained that the upcoming
Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy will be an intense and prolonged
period for welcoming the immense wealth of God's merciful love, and
emphasised that the Face of Mercy is Jesus Christ. “Let us keep our
gaze upon Him, He Who always seeks us, awaits us, forgives us … and
may the Virgin Mary help us to be merciful towards others, as Jesus
is with us”.

After the Marian prayer, the Pope
greeted those present, especially pilgrims attending the Holy Mass in
the Church of the Holy Spirit in Sassia, centre for devotion to
Divine Mercy. He mentioned the neocatechumenical communities of Rome,
which are beginning a special mission in the city's squares to pray
and offer witness of their faith, and congratulated the Oriental
Churches which, according to their calendar, celebrate Easter.
Finally, he gave thanks for the many Easter greetings that he has
received from all over the world.

Vatican City, 12 April 2015 (VIS) –
The Pope presided at the first vespers of the second Sunday of Easter
– Divine Mercy Sunday – in St. Peter's Basilica at 5.30 p.m.
yesterday, Saturday 11 April. The celebration included the
consignment and reading of the official Bull of Indiction of the
Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, to begin on 8 December 2015 and to
close on 16 November 2016.

The Holy Father, accompanied by the
cardinals, transferred to the entrance of the Vatican Basilica, and
by the side of the Holy Door, he presented the Bull of Indiction to
the four cardinal archpriests of the papal basilicas of Rome: St.
Peter in the Vatican, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside-the-Walls
and St. Mary Major. As an expression of his desire that the Jubilee
be celebrated both in Rome and throughout the world, the Pope also
handed a copy of the Bull to the prefects of the Congregations for
Bishops, for Evangelisation of Peoples, and for the Oriental
Churches, and thus symbolically to bishops worldwide. A copy of the
document was received by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai on behalf of
all the East , and by Archbishop Bartolome Adoukounou for the African
continent. Msgr. Khaled Ayad Bishay of the Patriarchal Church of
Alexandria of the Copts received the copy destined for the Oriental
Churches.

The Regent of the Papal Household,
Msgr. Leonardo Sapienza, apostolic protonotary, read a number of
extracts from the official document convoking the extraordinary Holy
Year, in the presence of the Pope. The Holy Father then went on to
preside at first vespers in the Vatican Basilica, and pronounced the
following homily.

“The greeting of the Risen Christ to
His disciples on the evening of Easter, 'Peace be with you!',
continues to resound in us all. Peace, especially during this Easter
season, remains the desire of so many people who suffer unprecedented
violence of discrimination and death simply because they bear the
name 'Christian'. Our prayer is all the more intense and becomes a
cry for help to the Father, Who is rich in mercy, that He may sustain
the faith of our many brothers and sisters who are in pain. At the
same time, we ask for the grace of the conversion of our own hearts
so as to move from indifference to compassion.

“St. Paul reminds us that we have
been saved through the mystery of the death and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus. He is the Reconciler, Who is alive in our midst offering
the way to reconciliation with God and with each other. The Apostle
recalls that, notwithstanding the difficulties and the sufferings of
life, the hope of salvation which Christ has sown in our hearts
nonetheless continues to grow. The mercy of God is poured out upon
us, making us just and giving us peace.

“Many question in their hearts: why a
Jubilee of Mercy today? Simply because the Church, in this time of
great historical change, is called to offer more evident signs of
God’s presence and closeness. This is not the time to be
distracted; on the contrary, we need to be vigilant and to reawaken
in ourselves the capacity to see what is essential. This is a time
for the Church to rediscover the meaning of the mission entrusted to
her by the Lord on the day of Easter: to be a sign and an instrument
of the Father’s mercy.

“For this reason, the Holy Year must
keep alive the desire to know how to welcome the numerous signs of
the tenderness which God offers to the whole world and, above all, to
those who suffer, who are alone and abandoned, without hope of being
pardoned or feeling the Father’s love. A Holy Year to experience
strongly within ourselves the joy of having been found by Jesus, the
Good Shepherd Who has come in search of us because we were lost. A
Jubilee to receive the warmth of His love when He bears us upon his
shoulders and brings us back to the Father’s house. A year in which
to be touched by the Lord Jesus and to be transformed by His mercy,
so that we may become witnesses to mercy. Here, then, is the reason
for the Jubilee: because this is the time for mercy. It is the
favourable time to heal wounds, a time not to be weary of meeting all
those who are waiting to see and to touch with their hands the signs
of the closeness of God, a time to offer everyone the way of
forgiveness and reconciliation.

“May the Mother of God open our eyes,
so that we may comprehend the task to which we have been called; and
may she obtain for us the grace to experience this Jubilee of Mercy
as faithful and fruitful witnesses of Christ”.

Vatican City, 12 April 2015 (VIS) –
The following is a summary of the Papal Bull “Misericordiae
Vultus”, by which Pope Francis convoked the Extraordinary Jubilee
of Mercy.

The Bull of Indiction of the
Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy is composed of 25 numbered sections.
Pope Francis has described the most salient features of mercy,
focusing primarily on the theme of the light of Christ’s face.
Mercy is not an abstract word, but rather a face to recognise,
contemplate and serve. The Bull is developed in a Trinitary fashion
(Nos. 6-9) and extends to a description of the Church as a credible
sign of mercy: “Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s
life” (No.10).

Pope Francis indicates the salient
phases of the Jubilee. The opening coincides with the 50th
anniversary of the closing of the Vatican II Ecumenical Council: “The
Church feels a great need to keep this event alive. With the Council,
the Church entered a new phase of her history. The Council Fathers
strongly perceived, as a true breath of the Holy Spirit, a need to
talk about God to men and women of their time in a more accessible
way. The walls which too long had made the Church a kind of fortress
were torn down and the time had come to proclaim the Gospel in a new
way” (No. 4). The conclusion will take place “with the liturgical
Solemnity of Christ the King on 20 November 2016. On that day, as we
seal the Holy Door, we shall be filled, above all, with a sense of
gratitude and thanksgiving to the Most Holy Trinity for having
granted us an extraordinary time of grace. We will entrust the life
of the Church, all humanity, and the entire cosmos to the Lordship of
Christ, asking him to pour out his mercy upon us like the morning
dew, so that everyone may work together to build a brighter future.”
(no.5).

A special feature of this Holy Year is
the fact that it will be celebrated not only in Rome, but also in all
the other dioceses of the world. The Holy Door will be opened by the
Pope at St. Peter’s on 8 December, and on the following Sunday in
all the Churches of the world. Another novelty is that the Pope will
grant the possibility of opening the Holy Door also in Sanctuaries,
where many pilgrims will go in order to pray.

Pope Francis resumes the teaching of
St. John XXIII, who spoke of the “medicine of Mercy”, and of Paul
VI who identified the spirituality of Vatican II with that of the
Samaritan. The Bull explains, furthermore, various salient aspects of
the Jubilee: firstly, the motto, “Merciful like the Father”, then
the meaning of pilgrimage and above all the need for forgiveness. The
theme that is particularly close to the Pope’s heart is found in
section No. 15: the works of corporal and spiritual mercy are to be
resumed in order to “reawaken our conscience, too often grown dull
in the face of poverty. And let us enter more deeply into the heart
of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God’s
mercy”. A further indication is offered by Lent, with the sending
out of the “Missionaries of Mercy” (No. 18), a new and original
initiative by which the Pope intends to emphasise his pastoral care
in a more concrete way. In paragraphs 20 and 21 the Pope considers
the theme of the relationship between justice and mercy, showing that
he does not stop at a legalistic view, but rather aims at a path that
leads to merciful love.

Paragraph 19 is a powerful appeal
against organised violence and against those who are “advocates and
accomplices” of corruption. The Pope uses strong words to denounce
this “festering wound”, and insists that during this Holy Year
there must be true conversion: “This is the opportune moment to
change our lives! This is the time to allow our hearts to be touched!
When confronted with evil deeds, even in the face of serious crimes,
it is the time to listen to the cry of innocent people who are
deprived of their property, their dignity, their feelings, and even
their very lives. To stick to the way of evil will only leave one
deluded and sad. True life is something entirely different. God never
tires of reaching out to us. He is always ready to listen, as I am
too, along with my brother bishops and priests. All one needs to do
is to accept the invitation to conversion and submit oneself to
justice during this special time of mercy offered by the Church”
(No. 19).

The granting of indulgences as a
traditional theme of the Jubilee year is expressed in section No. 22.
A final original aspect is offered by Pope Francis with regard to
mercy as a theme shared also by Jews and Muslims: “I trust that
this Jubilee year celebrating the mercy of God will foster an
encounter with these religions and with other noble religious
traditions; may it open us to even more fervent dialogue so that we
might know and understand one another better; may it eliminate every
form of closed-mindedness and disrespect, and drive out every form of
violence and discrimination” (No. 23).

The Pope’s wish is that this Year,
experienced also in the sharing of divine mercy, may be “dedicated
to living out in our daily lives the mercy which the Father
constantly extends to all of us. In this Jubilee Year, let us allow
God to surprise us. He never tires of throwing open the doors of his
heart and repeats that he loves us and wants to share his love with
us. … In this Jubilee Year, may the Church echo the word of God
that resounds strong and clear as a message and a sign of pardon,
strength, aid, and love. May she never tire of extending mercy, and
be ever patient in offering compassion and comfort. May the Church
become the voice of every man and woman, and repeat confidently
without end: ‘Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast
love, for they have been from of old’”.

Vatican City, 11 April 2015 (VIS) –
Pope Francis has sent a message to Juan Carlos Varela Rodriguez,
president of Panama, host country of the Seventh Summit of the
Americas, which on this occasion takes as its theme “Prosperity
with equity: the challenge of cooperation in the Americas”. The
Holy Father commented that he is “in harmony” with the theme
chosen for the Summit, affirms that he is “convinced … that
inequality, the unjust distribution of wealth and resources, is a
source of conflicts and violence among peoples, as it presupposes
that the progress of some is built on the necessary sacrifice of
others and that, to be able to live in a dignified fashion, one must
fight with others”.

“Well-being reached in this way is
unjust at its root and attacks the dignity of the person”, he
writes. “There are 'basic goods', such as the earth, work and a
home, and 'public services', such as health, education, security and
the environment, from which no human being should be denied access.
This desire – which we all share – is unfortunately still far
from reality. … The great challenge of our world is the
globalisation of solidarity and fraternity in the place of the
globalisation of discrimination and indifference, and until a more
equitable distribution of wealth is achieved, the ills of our society
will not be resolved”.

Francis remarks that many countries
have certainly experienced significant economic development in recent
years, but “it is equally true that others remain prostrated in
poverty. Moreover, in the emerging economies, a large part of the
population does not benefit from general economic progress, to the
point that frequently a greater rift opens up between rich and poor.
'Trickle down' theories have been shown to be erroneous: it is not
enough to hope that the poor may gather the crumbs that fall from the
table of the rich. It is necessary to take direct action in favour of
the most disadvantaged, attention to should be a priority for
governors, as it is for the smallest within a family”.

He then turns his attention to the
problem of immigration. “The immense disparity of opportunities
between some countries and others ensures that many people feel
compelled to abandon their homeland and their family, thus becoming
easy prey for human trafficking and slave labour, without rights or
access to justice. In some cases, the lack of cooperation between
States leaves many people unprotected by the law and unable to
guarantee their own rights, and thus obliged to ally themselves with
those who take advantage of others, or to resign themselves to being
victims of abuse. These are situations in which it is not enough to
safeguard the law to defend the basic rights of the person, and in
which the rules, without pity and mercy, do not respond to justice.
Within every country, at times, scandalous and offensive differences
are created, especially between indigent peoples, in rural areas or
in the peripheries of large cities. If it fails to genuinely defend
these people against racism, xenophobia and intolerance, the rule of
law loses its very legitimacy”.

“Efforts to build bridges, to
establish channels of communication, to build relationships and to
seek agreement are never in vain. The geographical situation of
Panama, in the centre of the American continent, making it a point of
encounter between north and south, between the Pacific and Atlantic
Oceans, is certainly a call, pro mundi beneficio, to generate a new
order of peace and justice, and to promote solidarity and
collaboration, respecting the just autonomy of every nation”,
writes the Pope, who concludes by expressing his hope that the Church
“may also be an instrument of peace and reconciliation between
peoples”.

Vatican City, 11 April 2015 (VIS) –
“To live in Christ according to the form of life of the Gospel”
is the title of an international conference for formators of
consecrated persons, held in Rome from 7 to 11 April. This morning
around 1,400 participants were received in audience by the Pope, who
exclaimed, “Seeing so many of you, you would not believe that there
is a crisis of vocations!”, and went on to highlight the beauty and
importance of consecrated life for the world and for the Church.

However, he noted that the decreasing
number of new vocations is an undeniable fact, and “this make the
task of formation even more urgent”. He expressed his conviction
that “there is not a vocational crisis where there are consecrated
persons able to transmit, by their own witness, the beauty of
consecration. And it is a fruitful witness. If there is not witness,
there is no coherence, and if there is no coherence, there will be no
vocations”. He added, they are “not only teachers, but above all
witnesses of following Christ in their own charism”, as the mission
and task of formators is to “truly mould the heart of Jesus in the
heart of the young, so that they have the same sentiments”.

“In these days of the Resurrection,
the word that frequently resounded to me in prayers was 'Galilee',
where it all began, as Peter tells us in his first discourse. Events
occurred in Jerusalem, but they began in Galilee. Our life, too,
began in a 'Galilee': each one of us has had the experience … of
encountering the Lord, that encounter that cannot be forgotten, but
that many times ends up obscured by things, by work, by worries, and
also by sins and worldliness. To offer witness it is often necessary
to make a pilgrimage to one's own Galilee, to revive the memory of
that encounter, that wonder, and to start again from there. But if
you do not follow the road of memory there is the risk of remaining
stuck where you are, and also the danger of not knowing why you are
there”.

“Consecrated life is beautiful: it is
one of the most valuable treasures of the Church, rooted in the
baptismal vocation. Therefore, it is beautiful to be its formators,
as it is a privilege to participate in the work of the Father, which
forms the heart of the Son in those to whom the Spirit calls. At
times, this service may be felt as a weight, as if it draws us away
from something more important”, the Pontiff observed. “But this
is a deception, a temptation. The mission is important, but it is
equally important to educate in the mission, in the passion of
proclamation, of going everywhere, to every periphery, to say to all
that the love of Jesus Christ, especially for those who are most
distant, to tell this to the small and the poor, and also to allow
oneself to be evangelised by them. All this requires a solid
foundation, a Christian structure of personality that families
themselves are rarely able to give. And this increases your
responsibility”.

“It is not true that today's young
people are mediocre or not generous; but they need to experience that
'It is more blessed to give than to receive', that there is great
freedom in a life of obedience, great fruitfulness in a virgin heart,
great wealth in possessing nothing. From this there arises the need
to be lovingly attentive to the path of each person and evangelically
demanding in every phase of the formative journey, beginning with
vocational discernment, so that the eventual crisis in terms of
quantity does not lead to a far more serious crisis of quality. And
this is the danger. Vocational discernment is important: all those
who understand the human personality – be they psychologists,
spiritual fathers, spiritual mothers – tell us that young people
who at a subconscious level feel they … have some problem of
balance or deviation subconsciously seek out strong structures to
protect them, and to protect them against themselves. And here lies
discernment: knowing how to say no. Without driving them away –
this, no. “I will accompany you, go, go … and just as you
accompany them as they enter, accompany them to the exit, so that
they may find their path in life, with the necessary help”.

He continued, “Initial formation,
this discernment, is only the first step in a process destined to
last a lifetime, and the young people must develop with the humble
and intelligent freedom of allowing himself to be educated by God the
Father every day of his life, at every age, in the mission as in
fraternity, in action as in contemplation”.

“In this mission, neither time nor
energy must be spared. And we must not be discouraged when results do
not fulfil our expectations. It is painful, when a boy or a girl says
after three or four years: 'I cannot continue; I have found another
love that is not against God, but I cannot continue, I am leaving'.
This is hard. But it is also your martyrdom. Even missteps, these
missteps from the formator's point of view, can contribute to your
journey of continual formation. And if at times you may have the
feeling that your work is not sufficiently appreciated, know that
Jesus is following you with love, and the entire Church is grateful
to you”.

- in the Congregation for the Clergy:
Cardinals Manuel Jose Macario do Nascimento Clemente, patriarch of
Lisbon, Portugal, and Alberto Suarez Inda, archbishop of Morelia,
Mexico;

- in the Congregation for the
Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life:
Cardinals Charles Maung Bo, archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar, and Daniel
Fernando Sturla Berhouet, archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay;

- in the Pontifical Council for the
Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples: Cardinals
Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, archbishop of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia;
and Francesco Montenegro, archbishop of Agrigento, Italy;

- in the Pontifical Council for the
Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers: Cardinal Edoardo Menichelli,
archbishop of Ancona-Osimo, Italy;

- in the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications: Cardinals Manuel Jose Macario do Nascimento Clemente,
patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal, and Francis Xavier Kriengsak
Kovithavanij, archbishop of Bangkok, Thailand;

- in the Pontifical Council for
Promoting New Evangelisation: Cardinal Daniel Fernando Sturla
Berhouet, archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay.

On Sunday, 12 April, the Holy Father
accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of
Taunggyi, Myanmar, presented by Archbishop Matthias U. Shwe in
accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law, and
appointed Bishop Basilio Athai, auxiliary of the same archdiocese, as
apostolic administrator “sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis”.

- Rev. Fr. Dante Gustavo Braida as
auxiliary of the archdiocese of Mendoza, (area 63,839, population
1,250,000, Catholics 1,086,000, priests 157, permanent deacons 61,
religious 258), Argentina. He bishop-elect was born in Reconquista,
Argentina in 1968 and was ordained a priest in 1996. He has served as
parish vicar in Villa Ocampo, missionary ad gentes in Cuba, parish
priest in Calchaqui, diocesan assessor for vocational pastoral
ministry, formator of the “La Encarnacion” interdiocesan
seminary, and member of the presbyteral council and college of
consultors. He is currently vicar general of the diocese of
Reconquista and parish priest of the “La Inmaculada” parish.